King David Museum in Tel Aviv: 3,000 Years of Jewish History

Arutz Sheva visits the opening of the King David Museum, which is dedicated to King David's legacy, life, and ruling period.

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Elad Benari & Yoni Kempinski, 10/01/12 05:38

Picture on display at King David Museum

Israel news photo: Yoni Kempinski

The King David Museum opened in Tel Aviv on Monday. The museum is dedicated to King David’s legacy, his life and his ruling period. The museum displays a selection of items that represent the period of David’s kingdom and also offers items illuminating the time period and the lifestyle that was customary during that time period.

The museum was founded by Susan Roth, herself a descendant of King David through the Biblical commentator Rashi. As a child, Roth traveled around the world with her family’s Yiddish theater, which included her parents, Pesach and Lillian Burstein, and her twin brother, famous Israeli actor Mike Burstyn.

Roth left the entertainment world at the age of 19 and began raising her family with her husband, the late Michael Roth. At the same time she studied philosophy and comparative religion at Kean University in New Jersey, went on to receive her BA from Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey, and then studied at Princeton University. She completed her Master of Fine Arts at New York University.

The museum, explained Roth, is “for people to understand who King David was, what he was all about, and that we are not just a country which is 63 years old, as the world would like us to believe. This is absolute proof that we are a nation that was put together out of 12 tribes 3,000 years ago.”

“I think that is one of the main issues that this museum brings out,” she added. “It is also an outgrowth of the Davidic dynasty and when you see all of the names of the descendants of King David, you realize that King David is still alive in his descendants.”

She noted that many descendants of King David are walking the streets today and don’t even know it.

“If they come here and they see their names, they’ll realize that King David’s blood is flowing through their veins,” Roth said. “While King David is not with us physically, he is still alive spiritually in his descendants.”

Roth has also founded the Davidic Dynasty Organization, which is dedicated to uniting the Jewish descendants of King David. The Davidic Dynasty Organization was an outgrowth of another organization Roth founded, Eshet Chayil, which is dedicated to strengthening the unity of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

The Davidic Dynasty Organization has meetings every month and is growing as more and more people find out about it.